Despite rapid advancements in digital payments, healthcare transactions remain frustratingly slow and outdated. Patients accustomed to seamless digital transactions elsewhere are still dealing with lengthy reimbursement wait times and cumbersome billing processes. The culprit? Many healthcare providers still rely on legacy payment methods — paper checks, manual claims processing and outdated systems that create inefficiencies at every step.
This reliance on traditional payment rails isn’t just inconvenient — it’s costly. Research shows that 48% of healthcare providers still process claims manually, a factor contributing to rising payment errors and delays. Claims inaccuracies increased from 43% in 2022 to 55% in 2024, fueling a surge in denied claims and refund requests. Meanwhile, the rising complexity of healthcare billing is putting even more pressure on outdated systems.
At the same time, patient expectations are evolving. While just 39% of patients preferred instant healthcare disbursements in 2023, that number surged to 77% in 2024. Consumers now expect the same efficiency in healthcare payments that they experience when shopping online or transferring money digitally. Providers that fail to modernize risk declining patient satisfaction, delayed revenue cycles and operational inefficiencies.
The good news? Change is happening. Sixty-six percent of small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the healthcare provider sector used real-time payments in the past year, and third-party platforms are accelerating the transition to digital disbursements. These innovations aren’t just streamlining workflows — they’re improving cash flow, reducing administrative burdens and enhancing patient trust.
In a time of rising healthcare costs and increasingly complex billing models, modernizing payment processes isn’t just an efficiency upgrade — it’s a strategic necessity.
The “Money Mobility Tracker®,” a collaboration with Ingo Payments, explores how healthcare’s reliance on outdated payment methods creates inefficiencies and how digital and instant payment innovations are streamlining financial operations, enhancing security, reducing costs — and, critically, fostering patient trust and satisfaction.
